1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer systems with graphical user interfaces, such as window based systems; and more particularly to techniques for finding, moving, and copying objects in such systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphical user interfaces on computer systems are gaining widespread use. Typical systems include the Macintosh Finder.TM. environment in Macintosh computers provided by Apple Computer, Inc., of Cupertino, Calif., the Windows environment provided by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington, and the New Wave.TM. environment provided by Hewlett-Packard of Palo Alto, Calif. In such systems, a workspace on the display system is set up with a desktop metaphor. Within the desktop, there are icons displayed which correspond to objects stored in memory. Many icons represent enclosures that enclose other objects. Opening the enclosure results in display of a window that encloses related icons.
These systems provide the ability to move an object from an enclosure represented by an icon within one window to an enclosure represented by another window or icon, or to copy an object represented by an icon within one window into an enclosure represented by another window or icon. These operations involve first setting up a destination window. The problem of setting up the destination window may be quite complicated, when the system involves a complex hierarchy of enclosures. Further, the process of setting up the destination window may clutter the desktop with a number of windows, obscuring the windows actually in use.
After setting up the destination window, the cursor is moved to an icon representing the object to be placed in the destination window by the move or copy operation. A drag operation is then executed to move the icon into the destination window. The drag operation typically involves placing the cursor over the icon subject of the drag operation, depressing the mouse button, and while the mouse button remains depressed, moving the cursor into the destination window. The mouse button is released when the cursor is over the destination window. The operating system responds to this manipulation of the graphical interface by either moving the object into the destination window if both the object and the destination are stored on the same disk, or copying the object into the destination window if the destination is on a different disk than the object.
Finally, after the drag operation, the user must clean up the desktop by closing the unneeded windows that were opened during the process of setting up the destination window.
As can be appreciated, this process is quite cumbersome when the destination window is deep in a hierarchy. Also, the problem of setting up the destination window makes initiation of a drag operation problematic. It would be desirable to be able to browse through the storage system hierarchy after the drag operation has begun.